I was in Civil Air Patrol (sort of like air force rotc mixed with boy scouts) for several years and a lot of the people in my squadron went off to join the military. I don't know a single person who said they wanted to join to protect their country or defend the constitution or anything that we always hear people thanking soldiers for. Most joined for the college opportunities or because they had a family tradition of joining the military.

They still volunteer, if they don't volunteer we get drafted, simple as that, the US is not going to be without an army, regardless of whatever the **** the public wants. So whether that is how they see it when they're signing up or not, they do a service to the people.

Would you not consider someone laying their life on the line for your freedoms of everyday life a hero of some sort? Troops dying every day and all you have to show for it is a dumbass comment like that.. Idiot

i know, but it isnt the men who die in battle who get to make those decisions. its the highly decorated generals who decide who does what and when. the least we can do for the men who die is give them an honorable departure. the reason we are in the middle east is to try and bring democracy to their dictatorship and prevent extremist religious parties from gaining to much power. and oil is probably a factor too. whether you agree with the military or not, they are defending U.S. citizens. and if you cant stand behind them, you are more then welcome to stand in front of them.

I don't understand. So going to the Middle East and try to bring democracy to their dictatorship and prevent extremist religious parties from gaining too much power is the same as defending U.S. citizens? I do not think the American military's primary focus is defending U.S. citizens when you're forcing a way of governing on an entire nation. I don't even know how you can justify it. I mean when the Soviet Union tried to convert countries to communism they probably thought they were doing what's best while America was heavily doubting that. So what makes this "bringing democracy" so much more justified than the Soviets "bringing communism". I remember recalling that America armed Afghanistan forces just so Afghanistan wouldn't become a communist country while the Soviets were also trying to prevent dictatorship and extremist religious parties from gaining too much power back then. I also remember recalling that the weapons the Americans gave to those Afghan warriors were later used against Americans themselves by Al Qaida nonetheless. Good job protecting U.S. citizens.

I'd say the American Military's primary focus is control over as much as possible. The American military has more than 20 permanent army bases all over the world. There are 0 permanent foreign army bases within U.S. borders. Looks like a little bit more than protecting U.S. citizens to me. But maybe I have prejudice so of course I am open to a fair discussion without resulting to name-calling.

yes we gave the middle east weapons in the 80"s but you know why? because they were fighting the russians and the enemy of my enemy is my friend. so we were temporarily allies. but then they started using those weapons against israel because of some dumbass thousand year holy war that they are still butthurt about. so we went back to being enemies. and the big reason we actually invaded was to ASSURE that they did not have any weapons of mass destructon because you know that any member of the taliban would destroy the entire western culture with a push of a button. we dont have as many troops marching on american soil because the taliban doesnt have to be in america to destroy america.

i mean we arent stealing the oil as far as i know. you know why there are so many rich ************* in saudi arabia? because we BUY the oil from them, and its called business.
also, fun fact: most of our oil comes from alaska, canada, and venezuela. only about 10% comes from the middle east

It doesnt matter why the government sent them there. All that matters is that they signed onto a job where you go in knowing you may die, and Any person who is willing to sacrifice their life in service to their nation is a hero.

Dying doesn't make you a hero it merely shows the respect you had for the people you tried to defend. A hero is someone who was able to defend those people and instead of trying to save hundreds is able to save one.

That is one of the dumbest things I think I've heard anyone say, ever.

Soldiers basically become military property, devote years of their lives to serving, and risk their lives out in some desert. Not exactly what I'd call a "quick buck". Not to mention that a military salary doesn't really pay all that well, all things considered.

I have no idea what they pay in America, but in my country military gets almost paid the most (except politicians and such) no doctor's nobody, soldiers get paid more, and if you die your family gets paid.

In America they don't get paid much, the logic behind that being that they don't have to pay for food or a home. Then of course when they get back the government tries to cheat them out of all their veteran benefits.

Well. looked up ham overdose. Overdosing on ham is basically conking out due to tryptophan. I don't know who that woman is, but I'm sure the news article would have show up had she really died from overdosing on ham.

But then, I've seen her mentioned on FunnyJunk before. Didn't she eat five pounds of fried ground beef once?

>Have friend who is a nurse.
>Works in the delivery room.
>One day, this hamplanet walks in.
>No, seriously, she's so fat one can hardly tell she's pregnant.
>Hamplanet has skinny-ass husband.
>Whilst dosed on various anti-pain meds, hamplanet begins talking.
>Subject moves to the child's conception.
>Hamplanet says they needed "help" to do the deed.
>She explains that "help" meant having her two sisters and her mother hold hammy's fat flabs up whilst the skeleton husband does the nasty.
>Hamplanet continues.
>It didn't work the first time.
>Friend's FW hamplanet says they had to try 5 times.

> MFW People actually get very upset over soldier's deaths
> MFW Honey Boo Boo's mother is not dead
> MFW this is a completely false image of American society
> MFW OP is implying that there are only certain people you can mourn
> MFW OP actually does something right in keeping with the tradition of being a faggot

So, just curious, have you ever lived with these soldiers? Have you ever met any and actually MEET them, not just say, "I know this one guy." These guys may not all be in the war for the same reason, but all are willing to put their bodies between a worthless piece of **** like you who shows no respect and a bullet. So shut the **** up and learn some manners

And what do you know about these soldiers? Have you actually met any or are you going off by some TV crap you watched? Try meeting a few and actually learning about them. Get drunk, smoke some weed, have a good time with them. Don't look at them as slaves to the government. Instead look at them as somebody who is perfectly willing to put themselves between somebody as ungrateful and ignorant as yourself and a bullet.

so during the battle of Mogadishu other wise known as black hawk down there was a black hawk that got shot down
a large number of rangers and delta force operators risked there lives for the men that were already dead .(getting there bodies out so they can have a funeral)
during the confusion a second black hawk got shot down.
two men, Gordon and Shughart went by themselves and knowing that no one else was going to go get them for a long time, went to the second crash site to defend the pilot.
both of these men were killed.
now are they heros?

If you're an american, let me remind you that that mindless genocide robot is the one thing between your freedom and having your whole world changed because the nearest countries decide to take your home over for profit.

I really hoped that after Vietnam and consequences for the veterans that war had, people would learn the difference between "I don't support the war." and "I don't support the troops."
I never supported our intervention in Iraq. It was stupid, unnecessary and only people who benefited from it are terrorists and military industrial complex. **** all the politicians who sent our boys there.
But guys who went there, they ARE heroes. They deserve respect and support. Our men and women doing the fighting should not be judged because the leadership who sent them there is ****** up.

I have never understood this opinion. Before I explain why I'd like to state that the following does not apply to anybody who was drafted or was already in the military when the war started, because they had no choice in the matter:

Take a war like WWII where there was a good reason to fight. People who fought (against the nazis, of course) deserve respect and admiration because they had a good reason to fight. If the war is pointless and there's no good reason to be in it, why is it worth respecting for somebody to fight in that war? If you don't support a war then doesn't it logically follow that you shouldn't support the ones fighting the war? Otherwise you're basically saying "This is a completely pointless war, but thank god we're willing to fight it!"

The explanations I always hear for continuing to support somebody who is fighting in a stupid war don't make any sense. The "being willing to fight/die for your beliefs" and "supporting/defending your country" ones fall flat when you think about the NVA, the Japanese in WWII, much of the military personnel in oppressive dictatorships, the Taliban, and any of the other armed groups that we don't support because we don't support them even though those reasons apply to them. The "protecting our country/freedoms" arguments don't make sense because if the war is pointless then by definition it is no closer to these things than it is to curing cancer or any other goal that we don't thank the troops for moving us closer to. The "blame the polititians who started the war/the generals who sent the soldiers there" doesn't make sense, unless we're talking about the exceptions I laid out earlier, because the people fighting chose to join the military while we were fighting a stupid war. Therefore they chose to fight in the pointless war.

I don't really think that there is such a thing as a pointless war. I mean, whether or not you believe that we only invaded Iraq for oil or if there were actually WMDs, there was still the possibility that there were. (Also they did find chemical weapons in Iraq which count as WMDs. Just fyi). It doesn't matter what you think about Iraq, or Vietnam or Afghanistan. What matters is that people heard the reasons that the government said they went to war there, thought they were good enough, and decided to help out. Even if it turns out everything was a lie from the beginning, the soldiers didn't know that. They thought that Sudam Hussein was sitting on a stockpile of WMDs. I'd say that war has a point. Even after people started saying that there weren't any WMDs, if the person thinks that there still might be some, there's a point to them being there.

I'm not sure if all that even made any sense, but it's 3 AM so that's the best you're gonna get.

I'm not saying it's not wrong, but it's wrong to say things like that about people who join later. You don't know what kind of reasons they could have had for joining the war, or what they believed that made them join. To them whatever lies the government told could have sounded true and made them join. Even the people who knew it was a "pointless war" still deserve to be treated well though. They weren't just standing around out in a desert or a jungle in Vietnam. They were fighting out there, and them just being there could have saved the lives of a lot of other soldiers or civilians.

Im sorry. Maybe I am just being a stereotypical ass, but in my life time I have met far too many "injured" war vets that are just blatantly taking advantage of the government to get free money. One of my friends apparently hurt his back so badly in Iraq he doesn't have to work anymore and gets disability checks, but still can play basketball with us every weekend. My other buddy's dad apparently hurt his leg so badly overseas that he doesn't have to work either, now he just sits in his garage all day smoking weed and getting paid to do nothing.... not even work an office job where he could sit down all day. I am nowhere near implying that all injured war vets scam the system like that, but like anything people will take notice of the bad before the good

"be the change you want to be in the world"... Maybe ask the guy what's up, tell him that you think it's wrong that he can participate in a physical sport like basketball if he is receiving disability check. And if he gets all pissy just drop it, but it might feel better to just say it, ya know? Not being judgmental because we can't always say whats on our minds.